Tag: Total Defense

Dennis Allen’s Saints rank last in total defense through 6 weeks

The New Orleans Saints currently rank last in yards allowed. They’ve given up 1,000 yards in the last two games, but their issues go further back:

The New Orleans Saints have given up over 1,000 yards over the course of the past two games, and now there’s no team in the NFL who gives up more yards per game. The Kansas City Chiefs game was bad, but the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dismantled Dennis Allen’s unit was a special type of beating.

Yardage has been an issue for the Saints’ defense. It was masked by the fact New Orleans played “bend but don’t break” defense. The lack of points scored against the team has held off some criticism. That can no longer be done after seeing 50 points on the scoreboard.

The Philadelphia Eagles game is a perfect example of this. The Eagles regularly drove down the field against the Saints. Nick Sirianni went for it on multiple fourth downs and failed.

New Orleans forced two turnovers, and both were in Saints territory. When you end the game only giving up 15 points and forcing two turnovers, it’s easy to not pay attention to the 460 yards.

The defense hasn’t been stonewalling teams, and now they’re allowing points on top of that. Turnovers couldn’t save them this week. They forced multiple interceptions, but still gave up over 500 yards and 50 points.

Defense used to be the backbone of this team. Now, it’s a hindrance.

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Wisconsin football leads the nation in this defensive statistic

Early Friday afternoon, Wisconsin Football released a very exciting defensive statistic on the team’s social media. The 10th-ranked Badge…

Early Friday afternoon, Wisconsin Football released a very exciting defensive statistic on the team’s social media. The 10th-ranked Badgers are now the number one defense in the nation after their dominant performances against the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Michigan Wolverines.

Related: A leader on defense will return for Wisconsin this Saturday

The statistic that measures the best defense in FBS is total defense, which ranks teams by the total amount of offense they have allowed. According to the ESPN ranking, Wisconsin leads the FBS in total defense with the least average points and yards allowed a game. Through Wisconsin’s first two games, the Badgers have only allowed 218.5 average yards and nine average points a game.

This statistic is a bit deceptive as Wisconsin has played significantly fewer games than most of the FBS and Power Five Conferences, with the exception of the Pac-12 that are only two games into their season as well. Teams in other conferences, or around the Big Ten, have played more games against oftentimes tougher opponents. This will lower their defense ranking, while the Badgers have played two teams that are struggling tremendously in Illinois and Michigan.

The Wisconsin defense has played exceptionally well this season in their first two matchups, and their outstanding performances have earned them a quite exceptional accomplishment in being the best defense in college football. This defense will be tested this Saturday as the Badgers will face off against the undefeated 19th-ranked Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston, Ill. The Wildcats currently have the 10th-ranked defense in FBS.

Texas Longhorns Football: Missed tackle numbers are alarming

The Texas Longhorns defense has been an issue for years. Under Chris Ash hasn’t improved. Until it does, this team won’t contend.

The Texas Longhorns struggles for years have come on the defensive side of the ball. While the defense played much improved against the Oklahoma Sooners, their red zone defense is cause for concern. On the season they sit 38th in total defense. They are giving up 400.3 yards per game and have surrendered 18 touchdowns through three games essentially. Out of the 76 FBS teams that have played this year, the Longhorns rank 66th in scoring defense.

Year Total Defense Rank Scoring Defense Rank
2017 365.6 41st 21.2 29th
2018 392.8 67th 25.9 57th
2019 431.5 97th 27.5 65th
2020 400.8 38th 36.3 66th

For the Longhorns defense, they have given up 36.3 points per game and that includes limiting UTEP to just three points. If you remove that game and focus just on the conference games, Texas is giving up 47.3 points per game. That is the third worst total in FBS. The 53 points against Oklahoma could be skewed given the two teams went to four overtimes to achieve that goal. Removing overtime periods, Texas is surrendering 40 points per game which is the 10th worst total.

So how did we get here? Well head coach Tom Herman mentioned in his Monday press conference that the team needs to be better with their red zone defense. While that is commendable, they need to focus on not allowing opponents into the red zone to begin with. The defense has had issues with allowing chunk plays and it starts with tackling ball carriers at the first opportunity.

Herman’s former boss Urban Meyer stated on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff that when you allow double-digit missed tackles, the win probability plummets. For the Longhorns this has been an issue before Herman arrived, but it hasn’t been trending in the right direction. In 2017 the first year under Herman the team had their best missed tackle numbers. That year they also surrendered the fewest points per game. In most cases they have been around league average but that can’t be something that is allowed to continuously happen.

Year Ash Longhorns Big 12 Average
2014 111 132 128.4
2015 85 130 132.9
2016 136 125 135.1
2017 117 92 121.7
2018 108 139 140.5
2019 121 157 141.8
2020 150* 60 32.6

*denotes a projected total for a 10-game schedule

The missed tackle numbers are provided by Pro Football Focus premium stats. As a whole, Chris Ash’s defenses have performed better than the Longhorns dating back to 2014 when he joined Ohio State. The first year with Todd Orlando at the helm it was better, however it has been a steady decline. This year Texas is on pace to matching the 2019 total in less games, even surpassing 2018 when the team played in 14 games with a Big 12 Championship and bowl game.

While the defense as a whole hasn’t been up to expectations, this is one area that needs to be improved immediately. If the Longhorns can limit those second and third chances by ball carriers on missed tackles, maybe then the defense can be more of an improved unit. If the goal is to be on the level of an Alabama or even Ohio State, those missed tackle numbers need to be closer to 99 or less. Thats what they accomplished in 2019 and both were playing in the College Football Playoffs.